Nigeria police in U-turn, admit worshippers kidnapped

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LAGOS - Nigerian police on Tuesday made an about-turn, admitting that gunmen had abducted dozens of worshippers during Sunday mass in northern Kaduna state after dismissing the initial reports.

A senior Christian clergy and a village head had on Monday told AFP that more than 160 people were snatched from several churches on Sunday. A security report prepared for the United Nations noted the kidnapping of over 100 people at multiple churches.

The Kaduna state police chief and two senior government officials had initially issued denials, saying security officers had visited the scene of the alleged crimes and found no proof of any kidnapping, with one of them describing the reports as "totally false".

But in a late Tuesday night statement, the national police spokesman Benjamin Hundeyin said an "abduction" had occurred and that the force had launched security operations, "with a clear focus on locating and safely rescuing the victims and restoring calm to the area".

He said remarks made by police and other officials from Kaduna state were "intended to prevent unnecessary panic while facts were being confirmed".

"Those remarks, which have since been widely misinterpreted, were not a denial of the incident but a measured response pending confirmation of details from the field, including the identities and number of those affected," he said.

"Subsequent verification from operational units and intelligence sources has confirmed that the incident did occur".

Diplomatic pressure

A Christian grouping in northern Nigeria has submitted a list of people seized.

"We did produce the names of over 177 people and there is no contest that it was real," Reverend Joseph Hayab, head of the Christian Association of Nigeria for the country's north told AFP on Tuesday.

"Such a number couldn't have been taken and you think you can bury it just like that."

He said there was also evidence of "those who escaped even with injury".

Sunday's attacks are the latest in a wave of mass kidnappings targeting both Christians and Muslims in Nigeria.

Gangs -- known in Nigeria as "bandits" -- frequently carry out mass kidnappings for ransom and loot villages, mainly in the northern and central parts of Africa's most populous country.

In November, armed gangs seized more than 300 students and teachers from a Catholic school in Niger state, with 50 escaping and the rest being released in two batches weeks later.

Roughly evenly split between a mostly Christian south and Muslim-majority north, Nigeria is home to myriad conflicts, which experts say kill both Christians and Muslims, often without distinction.

US President Donald Trump has latched onto the insecurity in Nigeria, focusing on the killing of Christians and putting Abuja under diplomatic pressure.

In late December, the United States launched strikes on what it and the Nigerian government said were militants linked to the Islamic State group in the northwestern Sokoto state. Nigeria said it approved the strikes.

Nigeria has meantime struck a $750,000-per-month deal with a US firm to lobby Washington to help Abuja communicate "its actions to protect... Christian communities and (maintain) US support in countering west African jihadist groups," according to disclosure forms filed with the US Department of Justice.